The LifeSewer's Apprentice
by camtrtl
Summary: Bloodthirsty chimeras are loose in Central, and they've abducted Ed. Roy, Al, and Breda have all but given up when a girl says she knows where to find Ed - and who's commanding the chimeras. As it turns out, Shou Tucker had an apprentice. T for language.


**I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters. I do, however, own my own OC's and my own plot.**

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It was a dreary day in Central as Edward Elric ran for cover from the rain underneath the awning above the military library in Central, recently repaired and in the process of being restocked. He carried two packages of books under his arms, and his brother Alphonese did the same. Ed and Al were both soaked to the core when they got to the awning, and Edward removed his red coat to reveal the standard Amestrian Military uniform underneath. Alphonese removed his jacket and was clad in a gray sweater.

The two brothers dried themselves off as best they could and then opened the door, stepping inside. The library had only been finished two days before, and some of the equipment the builders and painters had been using was still lying around. Of the dozens of massive bookshelves in the white building, only three of them were full in the Alchemy section, from one wood end to the other on every shelf. A fourth was in the process of being filled, and the brothers walked up to it.

Ed and Al both set down their packages of books and began to take things out to stack up next to the bookcase. They were about halfway done one package of donations when they heard footsteps behind them. Ed turned and saw another person was walking down the hallway, three slightly smaller packages stacked on top of each other in the figure's hands.

Roy Mustang set down the packages in his hands with a resounding crash, and looked at Ed and Al. Ed stood and saluted Roy, and relaxed when the General saluted back. He fell back to his knees and continued to take books out of the package.

"So, how's life, Lieutenant?" Roy asked, adressing the question to Ed, "I don't see you around very much anymore. I heard you found a way to regain your ability to use alchemy?" Ed nodded. Roy smiled warmly at Alphonese, "You're looking better back in your body than you did the last time I saw you."

"Thanks! Ed wanted me to help him take these packages up from his apartment, and I was in Central for some buisiness any-"

"A date, to be precise, General," Ed smirked, and let out a small, breathless chuckle. His eyes lit up, "So Al, how was Mei?"

"Thanks, brother. I thought we were supposed to keep this a secret?"

"Too late for that," Roy said, letting out a larger laugh than Ed's.

Al sighed, "She's doing pretty well. I'm surprised she decided not to stay in Xing after Lin Yao extended an alliance to her family."

"That's not what I asked, Al," Ed smiled, and let out a laugh equivilent to Roy's, "I asked, 'How was Mei?'" Roy got the joke, and began to laugh uncontrollably. He sat down on the ground, then began to place some of his books on top of the brothers'.

"What are you talking about? I told you, Mei's doing pretty well," Al stared at his elder brother, question apparent in his eyes. Ed returned the look in kind.

"Oh. Brother!" Al's cheeks turned beet red and he chucked a particularly large book at Ed, who swatted it down with his flesh arms. It hit his automail leg with a clank, then fell into the pile of books, which collapsed on Roy.

"Hey! You're picking those up, Ed!"

"Al did it, not me!"

"That's an order, _Lieutenant,_" Roy said sternly, smiling to himself on the inside. He loved the ability to push Ed around. Even though he had the right to do that when Ed was only a State Alchemist, he didn't because Ed was just a kid. Ed had just turned twenty-six three weeks before, and Al was soon to turn twenty-five, if Roy remembered correctly.

"Fine! Is this really how you greet me now that you haven't seen me in three weeks?"

"I didn't greet you. Is your brain as small as you are?" Roy said while laughing.

Ed clenched his jaw and curled his hands into fists, but didn't say anything and went back to picking up books.

"Hughes really got you in line, didn't he? I may need to ask him about disciplining unruly subordinates. I thought you were a lost cause, in all honestly," Roy continued.

Ed snorted and shot daggers with his golden eyes at Roy's hazy brown eyes. Roy decided to be the better person after a few moments, and set off stacking books. Ed did the same. Al laughed.

It took the three about an hour and a half to empty all seven packages of books and sort them into four neat stacks. They walked towards the door and Ed stepped in a can of paint that had been left to the side with his automail foot.

"Damn it!" he screamed, "Are they really _that_ lazy that they can't even move a can of paint out of the way?"

"Just be happy you didn't tip it over, brother. Now _that_ would be a mess," Al laughed. Roy and Ed both smiled. It was good to hear his laugh. It wasn't heard much when he was stuck in the armor.

"Hey Al, would you mind going back and grabbing one of those packages for me? I need something to step in until I get to the door."

"Sure, brother," Al said as he turned on his heel. He walked back down the hallway, and was suddenly aware of a shadow watching him through the skylight. It skittered away when he looked up in an animal-like fashion. Al shook it off and returned to Ed and Roy with a package.

Ed held it with his hands as he stepped in it with his foot. His lower leg was still dripping with paint, and it was beginning to hurt. He'd have to see Winry later.

They reached the door and Ed took the package off before stepping outside. Al went outside after Ed, and Roy followed, locking the door behind them. It was pitch black outside, save for the lighting, a sign that the depths of winter were fast approaching.

"Well, I'll be seeing you later, General," Ed said, shaking his foot.

"Bye, General Mustang!" Al said happily, and the two began down the street. It was no longer raining.

"Hey, you two! Riza and I are having dinner at that new restaurant! You want to come along?" Roy hollered after them. They stopped and turned around.

"I can't, General. Sorry, but Colonel Breda's given me a shitload of work to do."

"_Both_ of you procrastinate? Great," Al sighed, "Well, I'd love to come General, as long as I'm still invited now that Ed's not coming."

"Of course you're invited, Al. Ed, see you later," Roy said as he waved over his shoulder and began walking.

Al caught up with Roy, who was walking the opposite way, and also waved to Ed.

Ed walked two blocks – halfway to his apartment – before his automail started to send pain shooting through his body. He winced, and began to limp in an effort to ease the pain. The cold didn't help either.

A shadow against the moon laughed. It sat on all fours, stalking Ed from above. It had the ears of a dog and a tail.

"This makes it all the easier, doesn't it?" the figure asked. Its canine teeth gleamed when it spoke.

"That it will," spoke another figure, who walked towards the dog-like one on two legs. This one had a beak, "Although," it spoke, "It'll be harder that we have to bring him back alive."

"Well, we have darkness, the element of suprise, and a plan. He's injured, to boot. This is as good as it's going to get. We have to strike before he gets back to his apartment," Ed was now a block ahead of them.

"Let's go then," the beaked figure spoke, spreading dark wings across the moon. It jumped off the building and flew across the street to a building farther down. The canine figure leaped across the rooftops until it was above an alley that Edward was approaching. It let out a howl, and the winged figure jumped again, and dove straight into Edward, knocking him into the alley.

Ed fell to the ground, dazed. He had just been attacked by a bird-like chimera, he concluded, but where had it gone? There was very limited light in the alleyway. He saw the chimera settle behind him, and was about to clap when the unexpected happened – something pounced on him from above, digging its teeth into Ed's hand, rendering him unable to use alchemy. Another chimera, he assumed. That was the last thing he thought before the bird chimera hit him over the head with a pole and he fell unconcious.

Two and a half hours later, Al let himself into Ed's apartment using the spare key. He looked surprised – not only were the lights off, but Ed was nowhere to be found, and it didn't look as if anyone had even been in the apartment.

After searching the apartment and not finding a note, Al called Mustang.

"How did you get this number? This is private."

"General, it's Alphonese."

"Oh, sorry Al. What's wrong?" Roy asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Ed never came back to his apartment," Al responded, with much more worry in his voice than Roy, "He said he was going straight home, and he didn't have anything else to do today, not to mention the stack of paperwork he said he had. It's untouched, sitting on his desk."

"Hang on, Al. I'm coming over, alright?"

"Okay. Thanks, General," Al was about to hang up, "General. Please be careful. If something happened to brother, then who knows-" Al paniced.

"Alphonese! Get ahold of yourself. Everything will be fine," Roy said, hoping he was telling the truth, "I'll bring a gun and my gloves anyways, if it makes you feel better."

"Thank you, General," Al said, and then put the phone back.

Roy arrived around twenty minutes later, with a gun and gloves, as he had promised.

"I don't know what we're going to search for, Alphonese," Roy sighed.

"Well, we could start by walking down to the library."

"Alright."

They did just that, and Roy peeked his head into an alley, "Make sure you check the alleyways, Alphonese."

Seeing nothing, they continued. The two carefully searched every alley between Ed's apartment building and the library, but found nothing unusual. All they saw was trash, and in one alley, feathers.

When they reached the library, Al began to break down. Seeing this Roy patted Alphonese on the back and handed him a hankerchief from his pocket.

"Let's go back to my place, Al. You can sleep there tonight."

Al nodded hesitantly, and looked back one last time when he stopped in his tracks and ran to an alley close to Ed's apartment. Roy followed him.

"How did we not see this before! General!" Al screamed.

"Well the light was low. What did we- Oh, God," Roy said as he stepped in a runny stream of white paint coming from the alley. There was a small amount of blood mixed in.

"Brother stepped in white paint on the way out of the library! Oh, God, what do we do!" Al screamed, clear tears beginning to run down his face.

"Al, this doesn't mean anything happened. Honestly, Al, it was raining earlier, and that gutter up there is painted white," Roy pointed above them.

"But General," Al said quitely, "there's no paint missing from that gutter. Besides," Al paused for what seemed like years, as if he was finally coming to terms with what he suspected to have happened, "the storm cleared before we left the library."

Roy realized that Al was right, and ran inside Ed's apartment building. He called Colonel Breda.

"Who got this number? It's one-thirty in the morning, for God's sake!" Breda said sleepily.

"Colonel, it's General Mustang. I need you to come down to Lieutenant Elric's apartment immediately. I believe-" Roy paused for a second, "I belive he's been abducted... Or worse."

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**So there you go. I don't feel like making up an explanation to how Ed got his alchemy back, but he did.**

**PLEASE rate and review! I'll give you a cookie if you do! (Or at least mention you)**

**~Camtrtl**


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